The Rule of Law
We live in a democratic republic under the rule of law. Or, maybe, I should say that we aspire to that ideal here in New Hampshire. Our state motto is: Live free or die. Death is not the worst of evils. Thank you, General John Stark.
Good Laws Get Broken
The laws that govern the universe, like gravity are powerful and have dominated life on earth for men and animals, plants and fish, but it has served birds differently. They have always used lift and their design to break through gravity.
There are positive and negatives to every law written and unwritten. For example, gravity is a good law. It doesn’t discriminate. It helps keep living beings from floating up in space. It guides decision making -should I eat that chocolate cake?
Gravity also makes life dangerous for some creatures. Since there are predators that roam around seeking their prey, another law is needed to overcome the first. A duck will break the law of gravity using the law of lift and thrust to avoid attack from a mink.
The Law is a Teacher
The single most important thing that I have learned in more than half century on earth is that law is more of a teacher than a taskmaster.
No law can keep humans from doing what they want, because our Creator gave us free will. People are created beings, created in the image and likeness of our Creator, who is creative. We enjoy many wonderful attributes. We are creative, engaging, brilliant, and innovative.
When Adam and Eve came know good and evil, much of the radiance of human beings was stripped away. The laws of sin and death now rule the earth, just like gravity. And just like the birds overcome gravity to fly from predators, we can overcome the laws of sin and death with the gracious love of God.
Bad Laws Happen
“Ours is not to reason, why…” My grandmother used to say. She was quoting or misquoting Alfred Lord Tennyson. It stuck with me, at any rate. We cannot always know the reasons that bad things happen. We have the ability to respond. The second part of the saying goes, “Ours is but to do or die.”
I’ve been involved in discussions about laws for more than half my life. I have never been elected to public office, but I have analyzed and researched bills and laws many, many times and I’ve sat in hearings and deliberations while lawmakers were discussing the benefits of shortcomings of state law or rules.
The unintended consequences, the implications, the financial costs, the constitutionality or unconstitutionality, what the courts will say, how the public will perceive it, and whether or not it would be enforceable are just a few considerations that lawmakers face. Right and wrong are not always front and center, as one might think. It is shocking and disheartening when a committee hears lies and agrees with evil to enact a bad law. A law that doesn’t protect, a law that hurts people is a bad law.
Free to Choose
We live in a crazy world. We are free to choose to obey the laws, both written and unwritten, or find creative ways to overcome them. Even in a totalitarian state, humans have free will. We each have unique talents and abilities, we choose how we will believe and how we will behave.
It is an illusion we, as a society, love.
We love the illusion that this life is all there is. We love the illusion that we can do whatever we want without consequence. Many of us recognize that people need other people and that when we work together we accomplish more. Some of us realize that there is appointed unto man once to die and after this, there’s a judgment.
The Law of Love
Love is patient and kind; love is not boastful or proud. Love doesn’t dishonor others. It isn’t self-seeking, or easily angered and keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.
Most notably, Love always protects, trusts, hopes, and perseveres. Love never fails.
It won’t be the General Court or the Senate that will enact laws like that. The Governor has no authority to sign such an order. There are no law enforcement agencies that can make us comply. Don’t look to the media either. They use words in despicable ways to get their stories read, truth is a non-issue for most of them. It grieves me terribly.
Who will apply the law of love? Who will live within the bounds? Perhaps, the only people who can are the people who know the one, true personification of love, Jesus. He has given us His Holy Spirit as a helper. We are still fallible and can never totally fulfill the law of love, but we can choose to do so in this moment and the next.